


Generation Dead

by orphan_account



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Minor Character Death, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, and that goes for ships as well, ill be adding more characters as time goes on
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-26
Updated: 2016-03-21
Packaged: 2018-05-23 07:28:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 17,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6109504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"We advice for all citizens to remain inside of a safe building and await for help. It is unknown what the source of this outbreak is, nor how dangerous it may be, but we advise for everyone to stay as safe as possible. Understand that the government will help all of us." The message repeated again. It's the only thing that's been playing on the news for the past hours.</p><p>High school Zombie AU inspired after marathoning HOTD</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“Shit, shit, shit! She isn’t breathing!”

“I just saw her move!” 

“Just get rid of her!”

“How!? They’re still in front of the door!”

“Open the window!”

“And just throw her dead body outside!?”

There were too many students yelling at each other for anybody to really be able to think rationally. Most of the student argued with each other while others panicked as they tried to stop the blood gushing from a bite on their teacher’s neck and shoulder. In the meantime, there were others continuing to move chairs and desks to the classroom’s two doors in a desperate attempt for a barricade. There were even some students who began to take things out of the utilities locker in search of anything they could use to defend themselves.

Everyone seemed to be busy doing something.

Except for Alfred. He was still in his seat. Little blood spatters covered his notes. They were learning trigonometry this period but he was busy staring at the blood trailing to the door in the back of the classroom. 

He wasn’t sure how long their barrier out of desks and chairs would last. The banging was getting louder and the sliding door was obviously becoming loose with so much weight on it. 

He thought it was pretty ironic, the whole situation. He would always joke about kicking ass if any apocalypse came their way. Always saying he would know exactly what he would need to do to be the hero of their world.

Now… he wasn’t so sure what to do.

He turned his head when he heard a scream. 

One of their barriers had fallen and the door was pushed off it’s base.

\---

“Yunno, I don’t get why we should put all the gear away if it’s not even our turn.”

Matthew laughed as he grabbed a few baseballs and tossed them into a basket he carried with him. “Well, maybe you should’ve been absent, but of course that means you won’t be paired up with me anymore.”

Gilbert laughed dryly. “Ha ha. You’re so funny. But if I weren’t here he’d probably mark you absent, too.”

“S-Shut up!” He nudged his shoulder before returning to his job. 

“Well, anyways,” He twirled the borrowed keys to the outside storage room on his finger. “We gotta hurry up before coach yells at us again for being late.” He slid the keys in the lock but discovered it was left open. Opening the door, he shrugged it off as he walked inside. The last class probably forgot to lock it. 

Matthew sighed as he set down the basket and few bats he had picked up as well. “I’m still not sure why this has to be on the other side of the school. It’s always so empty.”

“It’s so nobody can hear you scream!” Gilbert picked up Matthew from behind.

“Let me go!” Matthew screamed and laughed as he was twirled around.

Doing as told, he snickered. “Anyways, let’s hurry up. Lunch is soon and the lines in the cafeteria are always crazy.”

Nodding, Matthew headed off towards the back. 

He began to dump the baseballs into their separate basket before hearing something. He thought it was just Gilbert messing with him again, except the sound was coming from behind the gymnastics mats against the wall. Not to mention they were deeper than his usual voice. It sounded animalistic and he could’ve sworn he heard the disgusting sound of something cracking. His eyes widened as he noticed blood begin to trail it’s way towards him.

Grabbing one of the baseball bats he had put away, he walked backwards towards the door he just went through. He almost screamed when he bumped into Gilbert. 

“Woah, Mattie.” Turning him around, he was surprised to see him so fearful. “You alright?” He noticed his grip on the bat was tight.

“There’s something by the mats and theres, theres blood on the floor, too.”

“Here. Let me see that for a moment?” He motioned towards the bat. “It’s probably just an animal. Probably just lost and scared.”

He swallowed harshly, nodding as he began to trail behind Gilbert. “Right… right, it’s probably nothing.” His voice had become even quieter than usual. 

“Yup!” He arrived at the mats and moved to look behind them, ignoring the pool of blood. “Just some cute little ani-” 

Matthew covered his mouth in horror when he looked behind the mats, too.

God, he wished it was an animal.

\---

The bell rang over the intercom. It’s scheduled chime an alert that the school’s lunch period was starting.

Arthur had no plans to begin to rush to the cafeteria or even rooftop to eat. He was busy in the school library as he returned a few books back to their place. It was empty for the moment and he was grateful for it. Everybody was probably busy trying to beat the line in the cafeteria or just staying in their classroom.

He brought his own lunch so there wouldn’t be an issue. 

He’d decided on staying during lunch get a head start on his homework since he’d finished his little chores the librarian assigned him already. Not to mention he had a meeting with one of his clubs and those tended to last late into the day.

Dragging his backpack with him, he sat by one of the computer and typed in some information he needed for one of his classes. Getting the name of a book he needed, he stood back up and headed off towards one of the book shelves closer to the windows. 

Crouching down he was pleased to find the history book he needed almost immediately. Humming to himself he glanced and the window.

He did a double-take. “What in the…?”

He watched as herds of students all ran from what seemed to be the same place. They all ran with a panicked expression, some of them even appearing to be about to burst into tears. Then as soon as it started, it was over.

He headed towards the entrance of the library, curiosity overwhelming him. As his hand hovered over the handle, it began to jiggle in a desperate attempt to be opened.

He could hear someone on the other side but he couldn’t identify them. They were banging on the door as they desperately yelled for him to open up, even calling him out by name. He swallowed harshly as he twisted the handle’s lock open.

Immediately the student ran inside and leaned against the door after locking it again.

“Y-Yao!? What are you doi-”

“Lock all the other doors! Hurry!” He fled to one of the other doors closest to him, constantly looking back at the one he entered from as if it would open on it’s own.

Arthur did his best to remain calm and collected. He walked behind Yao as he rushed to a door nearby. “All the doors are locked so there’s no need to worry, lad.” He watched as three more students ran past the windows. “But… what exactly is going on out there?”

They both jumped when they heard a scream and the metal door being pounded on with others demanding to be let inside. When they stopped banging on the door Arthur saw one of the students in his class run past the window before tripping. A second later the window was sprayed with blood. His eyes widened in horror.

Glancing at Yao, Arthur noticed how disoriented he appeared. Even some of his clothing was either ripped or tainted with small red splatters. The phone in his hand was the only thing that appeared to be in a good condition.

“Arthur! Text everyone you can and find out if they’re alright. Make sure that you text them.” 

Leading him to the back of the library, they sat underneath the librarian’s desk and began to contact their friends.

\---

“A perfect shot.”

Kiku lowered his bow. Giving the slightest bow in respect as he turned to Ludwig. “Ah, thank you. I’ve been practicing much more often now.” He smiled as he set down his things.

Walking with him towards one of the benches, he noticed Feliciano busy on his phone.

“Kiku! Are we gonna go get lunch or go straight to the roof?”

“Hmm… Well, Yao had told me that he wanted to join us, along with Mogens to talk about a project.”

Ludwig sighed. “You reminded me I also need to meet up with Ivan and Antonio. I’m not sure why we had to mix all five classes for a project done by the entire grade.”

Feliciano laughed lightly. “I like it! It’s fun!” He began to dig through his backpack as he felt his phone vibrate. 

“That’s because you have Elizaveta and Roderich. It’s always easier with people you’ve known your whole life.” Kiku stated. Of course, it wasn’t like he didn’t know his teammates either. Honestly, nearly everyone in their year was very close with each other even if they weren’t in the same classes.

Ludwig began to help Kiku put away his bow and arrows. “Then again we do do this every year for the school festivals.”

“That’s true I suppose.”

“U-Um, Luddy? Kiku?” They both turned their attention to Feliciano who appeared extremely nervous. “Arthur and Yao are sending me really weird texts.” As he turned the screen to show them one of the texts, he received a video from Arthur in the form of a group chat with nearly all of their grade.

The trio watched the video in suspense, worry beginning to overcome them. 

The video was shaky and out of focus at times. His breath was heavy as his expression face came into focus. He appeared afraid and so did Yao in the back who seemed to be furiously texting others. The sound of screams were clearly heard in the background and something else disturbingly inhuman. They both seemed to be distraught because they would flinch at any interval of sudden noise.

Arthur spoke in a whisper as he motioned towards his location. “I’m in the library on the fourth floor with Yao. We’re under a desk right now and we don’t know if it’s safe to leave the room. I don’t know if anyone we know is fine and neither does Yao but we’re trying our best to keep some kind of contact. All we know is they react only to noise so I hope to god you read my warning before playing this video. Please, please, please try to send messages here. I’ve gotten everyone on my contacts here and Yao is doing the same. Please stay safe. If you’re on our floor or nearby knock on the main entrance three times. Please be careful.”

As the video played, a new message would pop up every few seconds. Each one of their friends would say if they were okay and would let others know what room and floor they were on.

It seemed important but none of the three of them could figure out was going on inside of the school. They’d spent all of their morning in the archery section as they helped Kiku train for an upcoming competition.

Feliciano stared at the two of them. “What should we do?”

They stared at each other; confused, speechless, and scared.

-

Raivis cowered in a corner as far away from the door as he could possibly manage. He had been practicing with the school’s choir group just a few minutes ago. How did it all go downhill so fast? 

Roderich did his best to help out the few other students in the music room with him as Elizaveta did her best to keep any danger away while still leaving the potential for survivors to find them. In the meantime, Toris did his best to console Katyusha who was on the brink of tears. Natalia wasn’t too far behind as Ivan attempted to do the same. Feliks and Edward were busy trying to keep track of their friends in the school as well as what any form of social media had to say on just about anything about today. Lili did what she could do to cheer up Raivis as Vash search the music room for anything that could defend them.

Feliks spoke up, his face a little worried. “Hey, like, you guys. Antonio, Francis, and Lovino are all on this floor.” He read the message a little more. “They’re trying to find, like, a safe place or something.”

Elizaveta stopped in her tracks, staring at the the semi-completed barricade she already had made. “Well…”

“Don’t tell me you are thinking of actually destroying the barricade.” Natalia spoke harshly. “Those… those creatures will attack us at a moment's notice. Why should we risk our lives for three others?” 

Katyusha scolded her in between her sobs. “Natalia! Do not speak such things!” 

Natalia glared at her. “Do not set me up as a villain! I only do not want any others involved in this body count!” She motioned towards everyone. “I do not want any others harmed in this ridiculous situation!”

Ivan nodded his head. “They are our friends!” He glanced at the door then back at his sisters nervously. “We should help them, yes?”

“Well, I already told them where we are so whatever.” Feliks interrupted their little spat before it could get out of hand. He flushed as everyone stared at him. “I j-just wanted to help them. They’re our friends after all…”

Elizaveta praised him with a kind expression. “You did what you needed to do.” She began to remove a few of the music stands that leaned against the door.

Vash walked towards her. “Let me help.”

\---

“Honestly Lukas, you should know better than to try to run out and get your backpack.” Tino scolded him as he cleaned one of the cuts on his knee. “You really scared me!”

Lukas stared down at his backpack next to the nurse’s bed he sat on. “My charger was in there…”

Tino sighed and stood up. He hugged him as he did his best to steel his emotions. “I just worried, is all.”

Berwald walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Mhmm. Would’ve missed ya.”

Lukas sighed. “And how’s Abel? Emil?” 

Berwald spoke as Tino packed up the nurse’s first aid kit. “Fine. Textin’ others ‘s all.” He sat down next to Lukas and leaned himself against a wall by the head of the bed.

The thin curtain behind them opened up in a haste. “We’re not on the other side of the school you know! We’re right here!” Abel spoke quickly as he fiddled with a charm on his phone.

Emil was sitting next to him. He was snacking on what would’ve been his lunch, abnormally calm in such a stressful situation. “There’s more news in the texts.”

Everyone turned their heads to get a view of the pile up of messages.

More messages had popped up since when they watched Arthur’s video. After they all texted and said their status and location, they hadn’t really been paying attention to everyone else like they probably should’ve. But then again, the imminent danger just outside the nurse’s office was a good priority.

“Everyone's trying to find a place safe enough to meet up. They’re trying to come up with a plan to leave before it gets dark outside.”

They replied in unison. “And?”

“There’s still a couple people M.I.A and we’re trying to figure out where they are.”

Tino became worried at the thought of any of his friends being in danger. “Like who?”

Emil read off a list of composed of various different texts. “Um… Gilbert… Alfred… his brother Matthew… Mogens and his sister Emma… Leon… and a couple of others people are still trying to find.”

“Doesn’t Gil have P.E. before lunch? With that Matthew kid? He kept on talking about playing baseball outside.” Matthias’ eyes widened. “Shit.”

\---

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!” Gilbert whispered harshly as the door in front of him shook.

Gilbert and Matthew had run out of the outside storage locker only to run inside the gym and rush over to the other storage room he had the keys to. They both stood in the back, both of them terrified of what would happen once the door breaks open.

Matthew remained close to Gilbert who had been able to keep a bat in his hand. The gym’s storage only held things such as nets, volleyballs, and mats; nothing that could protect them. He looked around as best he could, his body aching from having tripped and his knees bruised up with skin having broken. He chewed on his lower lip as he grew desperate for any kind of help. Walking a backwards, he hit the back wall and looked up. 

Sun seeped through a simple window above him, it’s latch loosely locked.

Matthew came up with a plan and all he could do was pray as he hoped it would work. He whispered. “Gil, pile up all the mats!” He pointed up to the window above him when Gilbert looked at him confused.

Nodding, the two began to rush to grab any and all of the gymnastics mats in the storage room.

Getting to the top, Gilbert pulled Matthew up before he began to nudge the lock on the window. Matthew’s fingers and hands trembled in fear as the noises grew louder and louder. He could feel the window’s rusty lock becoming looser with every nudge and pull, but it wasn’t enough! In a last minute attempt, he took off his P.E. jacket, ripped a piece of fabric off, wrapped it around his knuckles, and hoped to God his idea would work.

-

Alfred walked dully through the empty hallway. It was clear of danger; everyone there was dead. He dodged the already rotting flesh of the students in his school, doing his best not to slip on the pools of blood he passed by. His phone was buzzing furiously inside the pocket by his thigh, but he didn’t have the energy to pick it up. 

He just couldn’t believe it.

All he had been doing earlier in the day was goofing off, talking with his friends, and hiding a snack he brought to class. Everything just seemed so… normal an hour ago. He even texted some of his friends plans for after school on the bus ride here. They were supposed to go the mall because Alfred, ironically enough, wanted to get the newest apocalypse shooter game that had been released.

He chuckled quietly to himself, starting to take in little bits and pieces of the situation he was in.

He heard a groan behind him.

Turning around, the distorted face of a student’s stared at him head on. It’s flesh appeared to have rotted ahead of schedule, blood dripping down it’s gaping mouth and a wound on the side of it’s neck as well. He stared only a second longer and identified her as one of the girls from his class: quiet, reserved, and not someone who deserved any of this. He felt empathetic before his eyes widened in shock.

He was in danger.

In actual danger.

He could get hurt and so could all of his friends.

The friends he’d been ignoring this entire time.

His phone vibrated in his pocket again as he walked backwards slowly and carefully. He fished it out while doing it best to keep his attention on the student in front of him despite her staying in the same spot. He did his best to unlock it without looking and held his breath as he glanced down and back up in quick succession. 

Everyone was asking where he was.

The weight of his situation was starting to hit him all at once and he had absolutely no idea what to do. He backed himself into the lockers, his hands grasping around him to hold onto anything that could help him. She wasn’t moving but he felt like he couldn’t risk anything. He continued walking along the locker doors until he felt a door handle against his back. He turned his body and did what he could to jiggle it open, maybe someone unlock it by doing so. 

Then he heard one of the lockers bang shut. 

His heart stopped, but then he realized she went towards the noise, not him. 

Then he almost screamed when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning around, he was face to face with Leon who immediately shushed him and grabbed on to his hand before running towards the opposite end of the hallway and towards the stairwell.

-

“Ok, Yao, what exactly do we do?”

“Well, I’m sure that staying on the top floor away from everyone else is not one of your priorities.” Yao grabbed a nearby meter stick and pulled out of his pocket a box cutting knife.

Arthur stared at him blankly. “Why do you even have that? It’s against our school policy.” He began to scour the librarian’s desk drawers for anything she may have confiscated that could be useful.

Yao started to sharpen one end of the meterstick, his movements quick and focused. “I don’t think we’ll be coming back to school anytime soon.” He sighed. “But if you must know, I tend to help out here and there with small things teachers need cut, open, and other things.”

“Mhmm…” Arthur nodded as if he believed him, but honestly he wasn’t in the right place to become suspicious of an old and close friend. He glanced outside the window. “Do you believe that any of them stayed here?” He did his best to ignore the blood dripping off of the walls and lockers.

Yao pulled out his phone and showed him the newest messages. “Leon told everyone they’re mostly on the first and second floor near the cafeteria. We should be okay.”

Arthur grabbed his phone and looked at the most recent messages. “What is he up to…?” He handed back the phone before grabbing his own ruler and walking towards the library door. He waited for Yao to come back from the window before getting ready, his hands gripping the ruler.

“Nobody is outside.”

They nodded and opened the door before they walked out into the halls.

-

Kiku stalked the door of their archery room with a wooden katana in one hand. He was grateful one of it’s owners left it in their room on accident, but it didn’t help sooth his rapidly beating heart as cold sweat collected under in bangs. Ludwig and Feliciano were nearby, trying their best to come up with a solution as they tried to figure out what was going on by using the large group chat. He could hear their murmurs of worry and it only continued to cloud his thoughts with doubt and fear.

Ludwig caught Kiku’s attention and Kiku walked a step or two backwards to let him out his ear against the door. He could tell he was straining to hear anything.

“I’ve heard nothing so far.” He let a run through his gelled locks, moving them out of place. “Do you believe a prank would involve this many people?” His first thought was his older brother, but his pranks were usually harmless kiddie ones, nothing at such a huge scale.

Feliciano chewed at one of his nails nervously as he scrolled through the messages. His hand went to his cross necklace without even realizing it as he noticed some friends were missing. If all of this was fake he would cry from joy instead of fear. “Luddy… um, do you and Kiku know what to do? People say it’s dangerous to go outside.”

Kiku sighed, knowing anything they did would have heavy negatives. “We must get to the school Feliciano. Otherwise we may not get any help whatsoever.” He swallowed harshly. “Even if it is only a prank, we only have one way to find out.” 

After grabbing their backpacks they opened the door and started to run towards the back entrance of their school.

-

“Just try to hold the door back!” Elizaveta yelled as she began to search for anything that could defend them. “Be careful!”

Ivan and Antonio were barely able to keep the door closed despite to two blood soaked students who were grasping at air to grab them both. Ivan rammed his shoulder near the edge and shut the door on an arm and hand, but hadn’t fully closed it yet. Antonio was beginning to grow tired of the struggle, but he did what he could to keep his stamina up.

At first, all seemed to have been fine when Antonio, Francis, and Lovino had found the music room to stay in instead of the school’s hallways, but they soon discovered they had been followed. The two students who trailed behind them had grown senile and ravenous as they stumbled their way towards the door before it was closed. Lovino had been the first one to find out because he had almost been pulled backwards into the hallway.

Now he was trying his best to not start crying even though the tears in his eyes were threatening to fall at a moment's notice. He wrung his wrists as he looked around while trying to figure out what any of them could do. He started walking backwards, against the entry door, and found himself entering the storage room full of their classical instruments. He glanced at one the violas left out of their case and grabbed it without even thinking. 

He wasn’t exactly sure what he was doing but he realized he was running towards the door. He could hear Antonio yelling at him, and in the back he could even hear Elizaveta and Roderich, but he wasn’t focused on them. In one swing he hit the arms and hands scratching at the walls behind the door before Ivan and Antonio closed it. Blood sprayed his shirt as a hand was ripped off it’s wrist, blood pooling on the floor as it’s fingers continued to spasm and move before they stopped completely. He hadn’t even realized he was crying until Antonio hugged him and wiped them away. 

“Lovi! You scared me so much! I, I just, don’t do that again!” Antonio held him close by before letting him go as Lili inspected him for any harm.

She didn’t mention he was trembling terribly.

Elizaveta placed a hand gently on his shoulder. She spoke softly while doing her best to sound encouraging. “You did really, really good Lovino.” She placed a kiss on his temple. “You really helped us out, you know.”

He nodded before falling to his knees, staring at the twitching hand.

Roderich spoke up. “Do you think they’re still out there?” He took off his glasses and cleaned off some blood that had reached him. “We all understand that we simply can not stay here forever.”

“Where do you suggest we move to? There’s others trying to come up with the same idea.” Vash retorted. He was willing to move, but not if it meant endangering any of them, especially Lili.

“Well… we could…” Roderich pointed at Feliks. “What has everyone said so far?”

He became flustered as he struggled to pull his phone out of of the pocket of his skirt. “Well, um, like I know that Arthur and Yao said they’ve started moving because no ones on the fourth floor.” He walked towards one of the windows near the choir benches. “And judging from, like, how outside looks really full. There’s barely anyone here.” He chewed on his lower lip. “Do you think the caf really is a safe bet?”

Toris fiddled with his the buttons of his sleeves. “Well, there’s only one way to find out, right?”

“Has anyone else said anything?” Raivis appeared from behind Katyusha, eyes full of fear.

Scrolling through the messages, he sighed. “Not unless you count Leon who said he’s moving to the second floor. He says there's barely anyone there.”

Elizaveta checked her phone as well. Closing it, she walked into the storage room and walked back out with an instrument case in each hand. “Who’s ready to move to the cafeteria?”

-

“Alright so this is going to sting a little bit.” Tino spoke to him softly as he opened a bottle of some unidentifiable fluid.

Matthew nodded before putting the sleeve of his jacket between his teeth. “Mhmm.” 

Pouring the liquid on Matthew’s cuts, Matthew’s other hand dug it’s nails into Gilbert’s own. They had been lucky enough to pass by the carcasses and students wandering the halls, not to mention finding the nurse’s office in time before getting spot by anyone. Having been left without their phones, since they’d left them in their classrooms on the second floor when they’d left to change into their uniforms for P.E., they’d been left in the dark of what exactly had been going on. They missed out on more than they realized.

“Man,” Matthias spoke in awe, “I still can’t believe you smashed through the window with your fist!” He continued to babble on about how if he had to do it, he probably could’ve too, and how it would’ve been super badass, at least until Lukas lightly hit him on the back of his head.

Berwald treated the little cuts and scrapes on Gilbert’s face and hands while talking. “He’s right. How many are ‘tside?” He used tweezer to remove a piece of glass from his cheek.

“Like… a fuckton.” He winced when one of his cuts were sterilized. “But, Emil, you said everyone’s saying there isn’t anybody upstairs?” He spun his baseball bat in one hand while the other continued to hold onto Matthew’s while he winced at the solution being poured on his ripped knuckles.

Packing his lunch box back into his backpack, he spoke absentmindedly. “Not anyone who isn’t either escaping or getting eaten alive.” Lukas hit the back of his head, too.

Tino scolded him. “Emil!” He sighed as he packed away his equipment. “So far, the only one with a plan is Leon who’s telling everyone to go to the cafeteria upstairs since he says no one is inside.”

“Doesn’t that sound weird? To just have so many floors empty even though this highschool is one of the biggest in the city?” Lukas pondered outloud. “You would expect more chaos or something.”

Spitting his ripped sleeve out of his mouth, Matthew examined his newly bandaged hand. “There was plenty of chaos outside.” He was ignored until Gilbert brought their attention to him. 

“He’s right. Maybe they’re all just moving outside.” He fished his pockets once more, hoping he’d find a phone he knew he didn’t have. He only found the ring of keys his coach had let him borrow. “Have they talked about Luddy yet? Feli? Lovi? Kiku?” He was praying his little brother wasn’t hurt.

“Leon said a lot of them stayed in the classrooms. More food I guess.” Lukas hit the back of Emil’s head again. “I mean, if they aren’t in the cafeteria then I guess that’s better than staying still.”

Tino glanced around, then focused on the door of the nurse’s office. “Do you guys think we should move? It’s been quiet lately and I’m a little nervous.”

Lukas sat down, his back resting against a wall as he stared at Tino. “We don’t have much of a choice.”

Berwald murmured in agreement as he began to pack up various items scattered around the office room. Most the bottles had been glass which meant they lacked more important chemicals but he grabbed whatever was plastic and tucked it into the first aid kit. As he grabbed boxes of bandages and tape, Tino began to help him out as he checked for anything important that could’ve been missing. Once they grabbed everything needed, each of them looked at each other and nodded in a silent agreement.

Abel slid open the door and checked for danger. Nothing so far. Motioning for everyone to follow, they each left the room in a hurry while Tino and Berwald lagged behind to carry their safety supplies. The all followed Abel in a single file line as he scoped out each corner for any danger, and each time appeared safe as he would motion for them to continue, but after only a minute of safety he stopped walking.

He chewed on his bottom lip as he watched a horde of students gnaw on a body he refused to identify. Turning his head away from the gore, he eyed Lukas backpack. In a hurry he grabbed it, searched for something inside of it, and then chucked the bag so that it would hit one the lockers away from the stairwell. His heart stopped as he watched heard the row of lockers clatter and he could only think in prayers as he watched the students raise their heads and slowly fumble their way towards the source of noise. 

Giving them only a second of a distance, he urged for everyone to walk quickly as they walked up the spiraling stairwell. Taking a moment to search his pants pockets, he handed Lukas his phone charger with a smile before the other could mention his loss. Lukas gave him an amused look as a form of thanks before they continued up the stairs.

\--- 

Huffing and puffing, Arthur and Yao had run through the halls and down their first flight of stairs when found themselves on the third floor of the school. So far so good. As they were about to take a sharp turn to continue down to the second floor, Arthur grabbed onto Yao’s shoulder and held him back.

“Ai ya, Arthur! What are yo-”

Arthur simply pointed with the sharpened point of his wooden meter stick towards the end of the hallway. “I could have sworn I’d seen some chap over there who seemed a bit panicked turn the corner. Shouldn’t we help out?”

“We can’t just stop and help everyone out like some kind of heros! We don’t even know if th-”

Screams echoed through the hallways and without hesitation Arthur and Yao ran towards the hall he originally pointed towards. As they rushed to find whoever they could, doing their best to ignore the remains of students mingled around blood and an awful stench of flesh, they instead found Antonio and Francis as they were starting to corner themselves as they tried to escape the grasp of a deranged student. Francis was defending himself with a violin and Antonio appeared to be doing the same until Francis moved to far back and tripped on himself. Struggling to get up, the student seemed to be about to take advantage of the momentary weakness.

Gripping tightly onto his meter stick, Arthur acted without thinking and ran up to the student to stab them through their back. As the student spasmed and tried to reach out, Yao helped and grabbed onto the stick to push the student aside. The student fell onto it’s back and impaled itself further until it moved to lay on it’s side, blackened blood pouring out of their mouth and dripping from their wound. 

Moving quickly, Yao grabbed onto Francis and bombarded him with questions. 

“Francis! Are you okay!? Antonio, are you!? Have you seen anyone else!? We thought you were both about to die! Why are you using a violin!?” 

Arthur sighed, staring at the student as he wondered if it was worth it to try to get back his ruler. “I’m fine. No worries at all.” He placed a foot on their back and tried his best to get it out of the body.

“C’mon Arthur. Here, let me.” Antonio gently pushed him aside and got the ruler out with ease.

With his arms crossed, Arthur held one out and took back the meter stick with a huff. “I m-mean, I could of done it… but thank you.”

Smiling brightly, despite their current situation, he accepted the gratitude happily. “It’s fine! Now, how’d you guys find us?” He walked up to Francis who hadn’t be able to answer any questions since new ones continued to arise at an alarming speed.

Overhearing him, Yao commented. “We heard a scream.”

Francis and Antonio exchanged a look before staring blankly at the two of them. “We didn’t scream.” They spoke in unison.

Francis gasped in realization “Katyusha!” He quickly grabbed Yao’s hand and dragged him to the left wing hallway. “Hurry! I don’t know if they’re okay!”

In the meantime Antonio lead Arthur down the right hall, exclaiming that while they may be safe, the rest of the choir club may not be. As they ran past rotting corpses and putrid flesh, the sound of crying made them panic as it grew louder and louder. Antonio covered his mouth to suppress a gasp as he watched Natalya and Ivan try to fight off students and even a teacher. They only had instruments with them, and it was easy to tell they were struggling. But before Arthur could act rashly, he pointed out a classroom with a door left ajar right next to them. As Arthur struggled to piece everything together, Antonio was already a step ahead and slid open the door completely as he checked the inside. Moving quickly, he walked inside did the first thing that came to his mind; he scratched his nails against the chalkboard. 

As the students and faculty members stumbled towards the board, Antonio walked as slowly as he could manage on the wooden floor, his soft sole school shoes barely creating any creaking noises. With his back hitting the wall, he moved quickly as he shut the door after returning to the hallway. Now that the danger wasn’t as imminent, he was able to realize that the trio was rather hurt. They were all splattered with dark blood while Ivan and Natalya’s school jackets were in rips, her skirt torn at a side, and even Katyusha had a sleeve ripped off at her elbow. Arthur was already talking to them by the time Antonio caught up to them, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand. 

On the opposite side of the floor Francis and Yao were desperately trying to come up with some idea that could help such a large group of students. Francis had been explaining to Yao that when they had all left the choir club’s classroom a student that was presumed dead caught onto Katyusha and began to attack. Everyone scrambled while some stayed behind as more zombies found them when someone yelled. He hadn’t known where everyone had gone off because he had been left with Antonio to defend themselves. As he stated his guilt, they both caught over half of their survival group struggling with their defenses.

Elizaveta and Vash were desperately attacking with whatever they could with a student attacking them back. It was apparent they were running out of objects when Yao noticed a sharpened baton sticking out of the guidance counselor’s head as the body laid on the floor. Even Roderich, Lili, and Lovino were helping out as they used a smaller bass’s bottom stand to shallowly impale a student and push them away. Toris and Eduard busied themselves with an agitated teacher who clawed at them and seemed to be reaching for Raivis and Feliks. Everyone seemed desperate for an escape that they didn’t believe would be coming soon. They were making enough noise that it seemed to be drawing in a large group of students locked inside of a classroom in front of them. The doors were banging as they groaned and moaned.

Lili and Roderich were able to move the student away for them to hold back the door from bursting open while Lovino was frozen in place with his cross necklace in hand and prayer out of his mouth, but Vash became distracted at the distress of his sister. The student seemed to feel the vulnerability and the pair began to struggle even more.

Yao held tightly onto the box cutter inside of his pants pocket. Only taking a moment to analyze the situation he pulled out his cutter and lengthened the razor as far as it could go before yelling out to gain one of their attacker’s attention. The faculty member was the first to notice him. He ran up to him in a frenzy of adrenaline.

Then his vision turned to the side as he slipped on a pool of congealing blood and saw the feet of the angered teacher move towards him. Sitting up he came face to face with the disfigured form of a too familiar person. Scooting back, he could feel the cold metal of the locker doors behind him as the teacher hobbled closer to him. His friends were only static to his ears as they yelled for his safety, he was too concentrated on the cutter in his palm. 

His breathing was too unsteady and his entire body was trembling, but when the teacher opened their mouth wide, he shoved his cutter through their forehead. The teacher landed atop of him, but he shoved them to the side as he got up on his feet in a haste. His white button up was seeping with blood the landed on his chest, but there were bigger problems to worry about right in front of him. Retrieving his tool, Yao found Francis helping the gang out as he pushed the student to a corner of the hall and smash their head with an ajar locker door.

He returned to them out of breath and splattered in flesh. 

\---

Kiku pushed the various students aside with the wooden sword, moving quickly as he dodged hands and mouths. He did his best to reach their first flight of stairs. They were on the south wing of school which meant their closest stairwell was exactly next to the cafeteria. 

He wasn’t exactly handing the altered environment so well but he could imagine that neither was anybody else. Glancing behind him he could spot Feliciano cling onto Ludwig who had a strong grip on the archery bow he took from their club room. Feliciano carried one as well, but he wasn’t confident in his talents for it. His eyes were welling with tears and Kiku felt empathy towards him, which only made him want to protect his friends even more. He sped up his steps when he reached an empty spot in the hallway, but stopped when he heard a harsh call for help.

Dead in his tracks, his face grew pale and his eyes widened as he turned his head to peek into the school’s head office. His eyes followed a trail of blood until it was out of sight and he could hear heavy breaths and another cry for help. Walking into the room with precaution, he could hear Feliciano gasp as they all found Henri with a pair of bloodied scissors in one hand and chunks of flesh ripped off his shoulder and leg. His breathing was shallow and his voice was hoarse from yelling. One eye was covered with his usual bangs, but they seemed to be sticking to his forehead with blood crusting in his roots. 

Kiku braced himself as he eyes his surroundings for danger, only finding the twitching body of the vice principal nearby. Feliciano was letting his tears fall freely now as he knew what would become of their friend if they did not act fast. The three of them kneeled down, getting into Henri’s field of vision as he eyed them with an unfocused view. 

“Please help…” He coughed up blood, staining the cashmere cardigan he loved to brag about and lend to others on cold days. The pale pink of the fabric did nothing to hide his blackening blood.

Swallowing harshly, Kiku stood up and closed his crinkled his eyes closed as he held the wooden sword tightly in his hands. 

Preparing himself he breathed in and out once, twice, then he opened his eyes and swung.

\---

“Grab the table!” Leon leaned against the doors of the cafeteria kitchen, struggling with so many student workers desperate to leave. 

“I could use some help, y’unno!” Alfred moved quickly as he grabbed one of their smaller tables and pushed it towards the kitchen doors. He grunted when he moved to grab another table. “I thought you said this place was empty!”

Leon moved from to door to help out Alfred. “Well I’m sorry I, like, forgot it was lunch time and students were already working! Near death tends to make you forgetful!”

Alfred stayed quiet with a pout on his face as they both pushed another table towards the kitchen’s doors. Satisfied with the temporary security, the started to pile of chairs, even grabbing plastic wrap in a desperate attempt to keep everything in place. It didn’t really help that there were small windows between the cafeteria and the kitchen, but they were too high for anyone to reach them.

Sitting down on the tiled floor, Alfred sighed and rested his chin in his hand. “Any other’s I should know about?”

“Nah, not at all.”

The utilities door to their left burst open.

 

“Yeah. Yeah, a couple.”

Alfred didn’t have the time to sneer or chastise Leon, so instead he yelled and grabbed one of the kitchen knifes left near the kitchen doors. Blood dripped from the blade onto his hand and he did his best not to feel queazy.

He heard Leon yell at him to move aside and get out of the way. He didn’t pay attention to him as he started to run up to the student, and then Arthur and Yao ran up from behind him and stabbed the student with a meter stick.

“A-Arthur!? Yao!?” Alfred turned around and found a good chunk of his friends safe and sound. His eyes teared up in relief as he saw them bloodied and bruised, but still safe overall. When Arthur placed a hand on his shoulder and Yao tried to talk to him, Alfred immediately enveloped them both in a tight hug. They were exhausted, dirty, covered in blood, and reeking of rotting flesh but Alfred didn’t care about any of that. They were safe, even if just for the moment, and that was what mattered. He didn’t even realize he was crying.

Arthur stiffly pat Alfred’s back, unsure of what to do. “Ah, erhm, it’s alright lad. We’re fine.” He returned the hug to his best ability.

“Y-Yeah. It’s okay, Alfred.” Yao rubbed Alfred’s back for a bit before he let go of them. As he was released from the beat hug, he noticed Leon near one of the doors. Running to him and hugging him, Arthur and Alfred started to realize the opportunity they all had to bask in their temporary safety.

Just as tears were beginning to be shed, the cafeteria doors burst open to let Feliciano, Kiku, and Ludwig inside. They appeared more exhausted than any of the others and the bloodied wooden katana helped raise questions, but no one bothered asking questions that could be left for later. Instead, Feliciano ran up to Lovino in a flash and they tumbled into a tight hug. Kiku sat down at one of the lunch tables and stared at his feet while Yao and Leon gently smoothed his hair and rubbed his back. In the meantime Ludwig was hugged by Elizaveta and Lili while Roderich rubbed his bicep in support and Vash simply nodded in acknowledgment. Although, someone seemed to be missing.

The room’s doors started to clang together. Setting the others on high alert, each one of them prepared themselves to fight. As Kiku got into a stance with his wooden sword, Feliciano and Ludwig grabbed their bows and arrows, the choir club grabbed whatever was left of their instruments, Arthur grabbed his meter stick, Yao pulled out his box cutter, and Alfred and Leon held onto kitchen knives. They were all ready for whatever was on the other side of the door.

Sweat dripped down their faces, their heartbeats racing as the door remained jammed closed. A few more jiggles and it was unlocked. Everyone fell silent as their heartbeats raced in adrenaline.

Abel entered the cafeteria, stopped short by all the weapons pointed at him. “... Yo.”

Gilbert walked up behind him and placed a hand on Abel’s shoulder. “Alright, what’d we miss?”

Lukas and Emil followed right behind them, quiet and tired, Next came along Tino and Berwald who busied themselves carrying enough supplies to have needed Matthew’s help as well. Although, the first aid kits he was carrying immediately fell to the ground as he ran up to Alfred and jumped him for a hug.

The two were a sobbing mess as they both fell to their knees, similar to how Feliciano and Lovino had been only moments ago. But unlike the pair of twins, Ludwig walked up slowly to Gilbert, as if he would disappear, and chewed on his bottom lip as he struggled to keep his eyes from tearing up. Catching on, Gilbert took the first move and hugged his brother while making sure to sooth him as his breath came out haggard.

Everyone was exhausted and emotional, but they took the moment with bliss as they tried to take a moment without thinking of the problems outside of the cafeteria. Eventually everyone sat down wherever they could, silent and consumed in thought.

Raivis spoke out loud, accidently loud enough for everyone to hear. “What do we do now?”

Everyone looked at each other. No one really thought that far ahead. The students trapped in the kitchen bang against the door and the realization that they need to school comes up. 

Leon stands up. “Alright, so who’s got an idea?”

Roderich spoke to himself. “Well, obviously we can’t stay in this school.”

“There’s just so many of us. Not to mention none of us even have a car.” Emil pointed out.

“Yeah, that’s kinda why we all take the buses.” Alfred mentioned.

Antonio snapped his fingers. “But don’t a couple of us have licenses? I mean, at least some of us can drive.”

Lovino retorted, “But how does that help if there’s no car to drive?”

Ivan thought aloud. “The buses never leave until the last bell rings.”

“I doubt the bus drivers are still there. We’d need them to unlock the bus doors and not to mention start the bus itself.” Tino explained.

Everyone seemed to be stuck on how to leave, and despite how calm they spoke, it was easy to sense the atmosphere. 

Gilbert laid his head against the wall, doing his best to think of a way to help everyone out. Putting his hands in his pockets, the key ring scratched him. Pulling it out with him, he read each label on the keys.

“Bus #953”

His eyes grew wide. Standing up in a haste, he smiled widely as he jingled the keys around. 

Everyone stared at him, each one of them with a look of disbelief.

“I have the keys to the buses.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for not getting this out sooner, I'm still trying to figure out where I want this story to go. Hope you enjoy it!

Leon tried to look through a crack between the cafeteria doors, chewing on his lower lip as he glanced left and right. Turning around he breathed in and out before calling for everyone’s attention.

“Alright, so, like, everyone knows what to do. Right?” He held his kitchen knife in one hand and a black marker in the other.

Each student looked at each other, turning to him only to nod in agreement.

He nodded back. “Each leader has a marker?”

The leaders of each group murmured and showed off their markers and highlighters, courtesy of Emil’s backpack.

Nodding once more, he called for his group and opened the door. “Alright, c'mon you guys.”

Katyusha gave her brother and sister a tight hug before she could let her tears fall. Rushing to Leon, he gave her a gentle shoulder rub as they waited for the others. Raivis got on the tips of his feet to hug Eduard before Toris joined in. Even Ivan and Natalya let out a noise of surprise when he timidly hugged them before heading off.

Lovino gently nudged Feliciano’s cheek with the knuckles of his fist. “D-Don’t do anything stupid, okay?” His voice cracked and his eyes teared up. “I know y-you can be a du-umbass at times.” When Feliciano hugged him, Lovino buried his head in his brother’s shoulder before letting him walk away.

Ludwig looked at his brother’s encouraging eyes. He sniffled as his brother gently laughed.

“Don’t worry Luddy,” He hugged him quickly. “I’ll be fine. You know I’m too awesome to get hurt!”

Ludwig chuckled and waved his brother and Feliciano off alongside Kiku.

As the group collected themselves, Leon stopped by the corner of the wall to check his surroundings before uncapping his marker and drawing a thick black line. Every member held their breath at every noise, finding the supposedly empty halls suspicious. Leon kept one hand behind him and motioned for them all to follow him. Walking through the hall and down the stairwell, they stopped halfway to listen to the school settling in hesitation before marking their spot again on a wall to move down the rest of the stairs.

While Leon’s group headed out, Alfred found himself hesitating on leaving the cafeteria. He watched everyone say goodbye to their siblings and close friend before walking to the door. He jumped when he felt someone touched his shoulder.

Taking a step back when he noticed Alfred’s grip on his knife tighten, Matthew spoke calmly. “We’ll be alright.” He gave him a nudge on his shoulder. “You’ll do fine. Imagine like you’re in one of your games.” He did his best to comfort him better, and felt relieved when Alfred let a sliver of a smile show through.

“You’re right. Thanks, Mattie.” He gave a small wave goodbye to the other’s as the twins headed towards the exit. 

Elizaveta caught up to them, leaving Lili and Roderich in near tears while Vash saluted her off. Behind them were Berwald and Tino struggling to carry all of the medical supplies, who Matthew then helped out by grabbing the more delicate glass bottle and metal tools.

They left the cafeteria, taking precautionary steps as they passed by rotting flesh and puddles of blood. Alfred reached the corner of the hall and let a finger trace the thick black line Leon left behind. He marked the wall with his purple highlighter before leading everyone to the stairs. Behind them Tino and Matthew were struggling with too many supplies. Berwald was carrying more, but he also had a rolling backpack full of more things trailing right behind him. As they reached the stairwell the sudden steps down led Matthew to lose his grip on the case in his arms and a few bottles of a liquid he couldn’t identify fell out and broke on the tile floor. 

Elizaveta immediately grabbed Alfred’s knife out of his hand and walked towards the lower half of the stairs. She peered underneath the staircase and stood back up. “Follow me.”

Berwald helped Matthew collect himself while Tino and Elizaveta headed down the stairs. Alfred drew a large circle below Leon’s black line before catching up with the rest of his group.

\---

“God damn it, Alfred.” Vash cursed as he heard a glass bottle break. He leaned down the corner of the hall, checking for any signs of life.

Roderich grabbed onto his shoulders, his hands trembling slightly. “W-Well what if it wasn’t Alfred? We aren’t very safe if it’s another s-student or teacher…”

“Don’t worry Roddy!” Lili rubbed his back to relax him a little. “If anything happens, and if he’s the big brother I know, Vash will help us. And so will I!”

Ivan placed a hand on each of their shoulders, a soft smile on his face. “Me too. Yes?”

Lili nodded furiously as she smiled. Roderich gave off a weaker grin before turning around.

Vash whispered harshly to them after drawing a circle on the wall the others passed. “Just follow me! We have to move quickly.” He began to lead them down the stair well. 

He noticed the circle on the wall, and after brushing aside some glass with his foot, he drew a dash through it before letting everyone continue down the stairs. Taking light and quick steps, each of them trailed behind Vash as he headed towards the main entrance lockers. Heading to the ones closest to the wall, he leaned against the wall behind one of the vending machines. Drawing a large red line, he motioned for his group to follow him. 

\---

Feliks sniffled, his eyes watering while he chewed on his lower lip. His heart was racing and he felt light headed as he watched everyone else say goodbye to each other as if they would never be seen again. He pulled at his skirt, bunching it up in a hand, feeling unsure of what to do. He felt a tear drop when he found Toris right beside him. 

Toris pulled him into a hug, smoothing out his blonde hair gently. “Oh, Feliks.” He sighed with a smile, feeling arms wrap tighter around him. “You’re very strong and brave. You’ll be fine.”

“I…” He sobbed a bit. “I… like, don’t want anyone to get hurt!” He gripped the back of Toris’ button up, collecting the fabric in his hands. 

“No one will get hurt. We’re all smart kids, you know. Especially you.” He pulled away, watching others walk towards the door. “You need to follow Ludwig now, alright.”

“But what if something happens? I don’t wanna, like, not see you anymore.”

“I promise I’ll meet you at the bus safe and sound just like everyone else.” He nudged him forward. “Now go and talk to Eduard. I think he’s in the same boat as you.” He tried to ignore the banging on the kitchen doors as he waved Feliks off. 

Feliks walked away, waving ‘goodbye’ as he caught up to Eduard and started talking to him. 

As the rest of the students collected themselves in the cafeteria, Ludwig and Kiku remained on high alert for any danger while Feliks and Eduard remained right behind them. In the back was Arthur who made sure to look out for any classroom doors that could hold danger. Drawing a green dash through the circle made by Vash, Ludwig nodded to Kiku who then lead the group down the stairs to the next marking point. Arthur yelled as he walked backwards before any of them could move on.

When Ludwig turned around he found himself face to face with a student. Looking down at the red arm band pinned to their sleeve, he identified them as the student council president. Their usually pristine hair and finely pressed clothing was now covered in blood, their hair matted down as pieces of flesh stuck to various ends. Their face was pale, dark purple veins creating a stark contrast as they lead to darkened bloodshot eyes and a mouth the continued to allow blood to pour out. 

He walked backwards but the student followed him until his back hit a wall. Dropping his bow out of reach from shock, he could barely hear the others yell because all he could focus on was the throaty groan coming out of the student as they opened their mouth wider and wider. He closed his eyes, his fists clenching as if he were to fight despite his early acceptance of death. He heard the noise come closer, closer, even closer, and then nothing. 

Opening his eyes he found the student squirming against a wall while being impaled with an arrow that Ludwig knew was his. As the blood dripped from a hole in it’s head, it slowly stopped moving aside from a muscle twitch on the occasion. Getting off of the wall, Kiku handed him back his bow as well as his remaining arrows. 

“Dan- I mean, thank you.” 

Arthur walked up to him. “Are you alright, chap?”

Ludwig nodded absentmindedly. Kiku instead motioned for everyone to pay attention to him while Ludwig calmed himself down. As the group walked down the stairs, Kiku leading the way as Feliks helped Ludwig walk, Eduard quickly picked up their dropped marker to draw a dash through the circle on the wall before running to his group.

…

“Shh. Wait. Did you hear that?” Yao stopped his group before they could even reach the corner of the hall. Some of them looked at him or they looked around the hall. “I thought I heard someone.” The floor squeaked. “See! There it is again” He shushed everyone again.

Antonio chuckled. “Sorry about that! I forgot to change into my school shoes in the morning.” He looked away sheepishly when everyone looked down to find his sneakers instead of his soft indoor slippers. He chuckled nervously once more while Francis tittered alongside him.

Yao glared at him before returning to his position as leader. Honestly, to be left with a pair of idiots! He sighed to himself before leading everyone through the rest of the hall. He’d become jittery and even though he didn’t exactly hate the group he was leading, they weren’t helping out his nerves. At least Lukas and Emil were staying quiet. Walking down the stairs he stopped dead in his tracks while everyone crashed into him. 

The smell of death had been in the school for a while, but none of them had never stayed long enough to see how fast these students and teachers could rot. In front of them a large pool of blood had collected underneath a rotting body, staining nearby shards of glass as well as mixing with an identifiable fluid. As the group backed up, Emil began to gag at such a putrid smell, the appearance not helping at all. He fell to his knees and bent over as he tried to vomit despite his mouth too dry to do anything. While Lukas pat and rubbed his back to do what he could to soothe his younger brother, Francis and Antonio tried to talk to him to calm him down, but he could only respond with dry heaves and heavy panting. A few tears fell down his face as he tried to calm himself down.

Yao carefully touched the student with the end of his ruler, nervous it would still possibly grab onto one of them despite the body missing an arm and a good chunk of it’s skull. Hopping over it’s legs Yao drew a dash under the circle on the wall and called for everyone over.

Emil nodded, standing up slowly. “Yeah… just, just give me a seco-” He covered his mouth when he glanced at the body again. He leaned against Francis, who helped him stand straight carefully. 

“Just give us a moment.” Francis wrapped one arm around Emil’s waist as they walked down the stairs.

Lukas sighed wistfully. “And to think he was so calm just moments ago…” He walked to the other side of his brother and helped him stay on his two feet.

They walked down the stairs as a group, all of them more than ready to leave the body behind.

…

Gilbert watched the hall, his bat gripped in both hands as Leon peered out the school’s side entrance doors. He looked left and right, even the slightest noise catching his attention as he caught his breath. Katyusha was to his left and Feliciano was to his right while Raivis moved around a bit as they all tried to remain as calm as the could, but with how jittery Feliciano was Gilbert could tell he just wanted to dash. 

Leon pushed open the door, leaving it ajar with his foot in the space inbetween. His vision was blurred by the sun already high in the sky and he started to wonder how long they’d actually been inside their school. Once he tilted his head enough he was able to spot the school parking lot full of student and teacher cars near a few still parked buses. He tried to remember the spot for the bus, but came up blank.

He whispered to Katyusha. “Hey Kat, you know which bus this one is?”

She jumped the noise, but calmed down when she identified him. “I think Feliciano and Gilbert ride that one. Ask them.”

“Yo, Feli. Do you, like, know where this bus is?” He dangled the key chain in Feliciano’s face, the numbers on the key showing.

He shook his head. “No… usually I just follow Luddy and Kiku when I leave the house. Ask around.”

Leon called for Raivis, ignoring the ‘oh my god’ Gilbert muttered. “Hey, Raivi, do you know which bus this belongs to?”

Raivis shook his head. “I don’t ride the bus. Ask Gilbert.”

Leon whispered harshly, growing tired of this guessing game but still finding joy in teasing Gilbert. “Hey, Gil. Do you kn-”

Gilbert interrupted him with a groaned and whispered back to him. “Yes! Just toss it here! It’s the first bus in the second row.”

Leon handed it to him, mumbling under his breath. “Well, you didn’t have to be so rude. Not very awesome if you ask me…”

“What did you say?”

“Nothing…” Leon slowly open the door completely, sticking his thick marker in between the door and it’s frame after drawing a black line and smiley face on the window pane.

He got everyone’s attention as they stuck their heads out of the school, following wherever Leon pointed. As he drew their attention to the first bus in the second row, he talked about a plan. “Alright, so there’s a ton of people in the parking lot and all I can tell is that they're attracted to noise. We don’t have to start the bus up immediately but opening the doors might draw their attention. All we can really do is run for it, so, Kat and Raivi I’ll need you two to open the doors while us three stay right behind you and make sure we all stay safe.”

Katyusha swallowed dryly, but nodded her head. “A-Alright.” She stood up straight as did everyone else after she grabbed the bus’s key.

Raivis nodded, his body trembling as he followed Katyusha. “I-I’ll do my best…”

Walking with precaution, each one of the were on high alert, all of them making sure there was no danger. All seemed well enough until Raivis unlocked the door and the pressure was released. 

With a sound much louder than any of them could have expected, many of the students and faculty turned their heads towards the bus. They started walking towards sound, moaning and groaning as they did so. As Katyusha and Raivis rushed on to the bus, Gilbert and Leon prepared themselves to fight just in case. Feliciano simply froze in place, staring at all the bodies come towards them all as he mumbled prayers beneath his breath. Gilbert and Leon were yelling at him to get inside of the bus but he felt like theirs words didn’t match up with their lips and he felt as if moving would take all the strength in the world. The one thing he was good at was running away and now he couldn’t even do that.

Raivis shook him from behind, standing on the first steps of the bus to get height. “Feliciano!” 

He slowly turned to look back at him, finding himself face to face with a very scared friend.

“Hit one of the cars!” He pointed to an older car off in the distance of the parking lot. “Set off their alarm!”

With shakes throughout his body, Feliciano nodded as he raised his bow and placed on of his remaining arrows in his grasp. Doing his best to steady his trembling hands, his position slipped when he heard Katyusha yell in fear. Falling flat on his face, he’d already shot by the time he hit the ground. The pair held their breath as they watched the arrow go high through the air, neither of them sure if it would hit any car.

Then the alarm of a teacher’s car went off. 

Gilbert and Leon, both unaware of what had happened, looked around as they watched nearby students focus their attentions to the car as they hobbled over to it. Leon watched in fear as he noticed a student barely touch him. Watching the student walk just a hair away from him, he noticed how unaware all the other’s were of his group. He slowly walked onto the bus right after everyone else, leaving the doors open as he stayed on the entrance stairs. 

Gilbert called over to Feliciano, still watching the students continue to walk towards the noise despite some of them already having reached it. They walked in place and didn’t realize what the source of the noise was. “Hey, Feli, go over to one of the windows and open it up. If you still got a few arrows… um… shoot them at whatever you see.” Gilbert remained transfixed on the odd behavior of those near the car. 

Murmuring in agreement, Feliciano walked to the middle of the bus and opened a window facing the school. Crossing his arms, he rested them on the frame as he kept his bow and arrow nearby him while never taking his eyes off of the school exit. 

…

“C’mon you guys! We’re the last group and we can probably get to the bus super fast!” Abel jumped from side to side in place as he spoke to his team. “I mean everyone else is probably already out of the school! Why don’t we just go right now?”

Natalia sighed, her temper starting to get to her. “Because if we do then we may catch up to a group and draw attention to ourselves. That is the reason we divided everyone up in the first place.” She clicked her tongue in exasperation.

“She’s right. And,” Lovino looked at a nearby clock on a wall. “It’s been a minute since Antonio and everyone else left. Just give them some damn time.”

Abel huffed, his nerves starting to get to him. “But I mean what if they already left!? They’re all probably looking at the door we gotta leave from and they’re all probably thinking we didn’t make it or something! We can’t let them think that!”

Toris moved away from the cafeteria doors, jumping slightly at any noise that came out of the kitchen. He looked away from the rickety tables blocking the doors to give Abel a supportive look. “W-Well… I suppose it’s been a while since everyone has left and time is of the essence right n-” He jumped when someone hit the kitchen door. “N-Now.” He started to speed walk towards the door, dragging Abel alongside him. “How a-about we just go now?” 

The tables fell off of each other, a sliver of an opening widening as an arm slipped out from behind it. 

“Let’s go.” Natalya grabbed Lovino’s arm before pulling him to the exit.

Abel smiled, more than ready to jet. “Alright! Finally! Follow me!”

He started to dash through the halls, barely letting any of the other’s keep up with him. As he turned corners effortlessly, he kept a grip on Tori's, making sure he didn’t get lost or left behind in the chaos. Behind them was Natalya and Lovino who were running to keep up. They weren’t having any issues until Abel reached the staircase and ignored the blood and glass that littered the floor. One wrong turn to get down the lower half of the staircase and Toris ended up slipping on his own two feet. Taking Abel with him, the two landed awkwardly, Abel saving himself with the palms of his hands while Toris took the short end of the stick. 

Cringing, Abel got back onto his feet as he pulled a few shards of glass out of his hands. Meanwhile Lovino helped pull Toris get back up, and then helping him gain his balance when he almost slipped again.

Natalya peered down to his foot. “Can you walk?”

“Ah, I, um, I don’t think so.” His heartbeat raced. “I… I’m really sorry. I should’ve watched where I was going.”

Abel chewed on his lower lip, guilt beginning to eat him alive. “Look, I’m sorry. I just really wanna get out of here but I shouldn’t have dragged you the whole time. Shit, and now you can’t walk either.” He snapped his finger. “I got it!”

“What do you mea- whoa!”

Abel scooped up Toris with his arms supporting his back and thighs, his feet dangling to a side as Abel began to hop down the stairs before jogging down the hall. Lovino and Natalya snickered to each other before running along side him.

Wrapping his arms around Abel’s shoulder’s, Toris became flustered at his position. “R-Really Abel! You don’t have to do this! I could just try to walk it off or something!” He yelped when Abel jumped to hop over a body.

“‘Course I do! I caused it so I should fix it, too!”

Without accepting anything else from him, Abel continued to run down the halls as he lead his group to the bus.

…

Elizaveta covered Alfred’s mouth, effectively shushing him as she raised a finger to her puckered lips. 

Everyone backed themselves up against one of the bulletin boards against the hallway wall. The group watched as various students and teacher headed to a car alarm despite all of them walking in place against walls, doors, and lockers. Tino held his breath as well as Matthew while they both struggled to make sure nothing could crack again. Berwald was more concentrated on trying to figure out what they would need to do as he watched a teacher barely skim one of his arms as she walked past them all without a second glance. 

“What did those idiots do?” Elizaveta whispered to herself as she continued to hear a car alarm going off without any signs of stopping. At least it drew everyone’s attention to something else. 

Shoving her hand off of his mouth, Alfred glared at Elizaveta. “You didn’t need to do that you know!”

“You wouldn’t lower your voice!” She huffed out.

“You di-” He coughed and lowered his voice to a harsh whisper. “You didn’t give me a chance!”

“You… you guys, please, we should just get out of here.” Matthew tried to intervene despite his lack of presence. “We don’t want to draw any attention to us.”

Berwald grunted and walked in between the two before the could get any louder. Giving them both an intense stare, they become quite in less than a second after apologizing. Getting back to his spot next to Tino, he got a thumbs up in support before letting a smile show for only a moment before letting his stoic expression take over again. “We should get t’ the bus now.”

“Berwald is right! We should hurry up!” Tino moved on ahead, taking a risk as he precariously held his supplies close to his chest. He turned around only to motion his head to the door before running towards it again. He was agile as he ran around each student and faculty member he encountered before he was successfully able to reach the end of the hallway and notice the marker holding the door ajar. 

Elizaveta followed his lead, gripping the knife still in her hand tightly as she did her best to move as swiftly as possible. Her school slippers barely made any noise as she came to a halt at the door, smiling to herself in relief as she peered through the door’s crack. Alfred came right after, having forgotten to change into his school slippers his outside sneakers instead squeaked against the tile halls, but thankfully the car alarm was still louder than he was. Next up was Matthew who had Berwald accompany him for encouragement. He walked slowly and carefully, nervous that at any moment he would let another bottle of something important drop again. Berwald kept a hand on his shoulder at all times as he reminded him he wasn’t alone, and also would keep him balanced if he noticed some medical supplies more than ready to fall out of his grasp. They eventually reached the end of the hall with a sigh of relief from all of them. 

Each of them nodded to each other before Alfred shoved his highlighter into the crack right underneath Leon’s own marker. Slipping through the small space, they made a break for it once they located the bus. One at a time, each of them noticed their surroundings: the loud car alarm, the bloody gravel, dirt, cement, and even road, the frantic way Leon and Feliciano waved them down, and even the way each one of them had their heartbeats in their ears as they ran as if their world was ending because they knew it probably was. 

…

Already having gotten on track despite a few incidents mostly involving making too much noise in a disturbingly silent school, the moment Vash’s group heard the car alarm in the distance they all made a mad dash to the hallway exit. Ivan stopped halfway, catching the attention of his friends when he walked up to a classroom. Peering inside, the windowpane was stained with blood and he couldn’t see inside. Ignoring his gut feeling, he motioned for everyone to continue while he ran alongside them despite the fact that he wouldn’t stop looking back at that classroom over and over again until it was out of sight. 

These thoughts left his mind when he left the school building and instead got into the bus to hug his sister as tightly as he could manage. Giving her a kiss on the cheek he decided to give each and every one of his friends a hug in relief, effectively forgetting the feeling at the bottom of his stomach when saw another group leave the school. 

Antonio had nearly tripped on his own two feet when he left the school, the rest of his group right behind him as they all rushed to the bus. Emil had been feeling better since they left the staircase but he was still nauseous enough that Francis and Lukas needed to help him hurry onto the bus and still down in one of the seats. Welcoming hugs were left for later as Tino appeared from the back of the bus and started to look through his supplies for something that could help Emil out. Berwald appeared next to him as he gave him anything that was asked for. As Lukas stayed near his brother to make sure he was okay, everyone else was rapidly talking to anyone they could. The bus was filled with worried hugs and words of comfort as they each waited for the last remaining group to appear so that they could leave the dangers of their own school.

Then out of the corner of Eduard’s eye he finds Toris being helped out of the school by Abel, still carrying him out of ease while behind them are Natalya and Lovino. Each one of them appeared relieved to find the bus full of their friends.

“You guys! There they are!” Eduard pointed them out in time for Leon to ease the bus doors completely open as Natalya and Abel helped Toris.

Once Natalya helped him sit in one of the bus benches Feliks immediately hurried over to him. Abel began to explain what happened in a remorseful tone, but Feliks simply shooed him away as he called over Matthew for some supplies. 

“Finally years of high heels and twisted ankles will totally come in handy.” He said with a smile and laugh before hiking up the cuff of Toris’ left pant leg.

While Toris got his ankle wrapped up and cared for and Emil was taken care of, Ludwig took charge and did his best to organize their bus situation. “Everyone sit down! I need to make sure we’re all here.” Once he’d done a roll call and asked if anyone was missing from their meeting in the cafeteria, he’d realized something. “Alright… well, who can drive?”

A hand immediately shot up. “Ooh! Luddy! I can drive! I got my licence earlier this year!” Feliciano spoke quickly as he motioned to himself and even to his brother, stating that both of them knew how to drive. “And plus either of us can get us wherever super fast!” 

“No!” Everyone yelled out almost unanimously as Feliciano tried to grab the keys out of his hands.

Pouting, he sat back down and everyone was able to escape an early vehicular death. Each one of them asked each other if any of them could drive. The most common answer was ‘no’ since most of them hadn’t had any driving experience, especially with a bus. They sat in silence for a moment, not even hearing the car alarm beeping in the background,realization dawning on them that they hadn’t even bothered checking if anyone could actually drive them away. Then Gilbert stood up.

“Listen, I’ll just drive.” He sat down in the driver’s seat as he looked at the various buttons and levers. 

Most of the bus grew in a panic, many of his friends trying to convince him to not drive.

“Gilbert! My dear friend, I happen to quite enjoy my life and it would be a pity to lose it so soon!” Francis spoke quickly.

Antonio agreed with him. “There’s a lot of things we haven’t seen yet! Why end it all so fast!?”

From the back of the bus he could hear Ivan’s voice grow a little cold. “Gilbert, if you know what’s good for you then you’ll get out of that chair.”

“Just get the hell out of there!” Natalya followed up. Katyusha scolded the both of them for their rudeness. 

Elizaveta and Roderich both yelled at him. “You dumbass! Just let someone else drive!” “Honestly Gilbert! I’ve asked you to take responsibility before but not like this!”

Ignoring them all, Gilbert instead grabbed the keys out of his brother’s hand and started up the bus. Checking all of his mirrors and buckling his seatbelt he started to drive out of the bus row while trying to figure out the rest of the rather foreign mechanics. Everyone continued to yell that he shouldn’t be driving and that someone more responsible would be better… and then a student ran up to the door of the bus and started to smash it’s head against the glass panels. Blood ran down their forehead but they didn’t seem to stop.

Everyone shouted at him. “Drive!”

Slamming down on the pedal, the tires screeched against the pavement as he drove the bus around the back of the school. Drawing the attention away from the car that had grown quiet a while ago, a large horde of students began to chase against the bus. Many of them screamed in fear as a few of the students caught up with the vehicle and started to slam against it, becoming much more aggressive than they had been only minutes ago. Turning and twisting the bus from side to side he hit most of the faculty members and various students to the ground, ignoring the crunching of bones when he ran over what he could only hope was a bump, while his friends did their best to remain seated on the bus seats without and seatbelts to help them out. 

Making a sharp turn to the left he was able to barely skim the gates of the baseball field and instead find the entrance gates of the school, just large enough for the bus to go through them. Smiling to himself, he sped the bus up even more as he drove past various other students scattered across the school entrance. The exit seemed so close yet so far.

Then he heard a voice all too familiar right behind him. 

Glancing into the rearview mirror he found Emma and Mogens doing their best to dodge the students as they tried to catch up to the bus. Emma seemed to be doing better than Mogens. “Holy shit!”

He swerved the bus a bit, hitting a few people along the way, as he tried to make a clear space for them as he slowed down. Antonio noticed them as well and rushed down the few steps of the bus to open the bloodied door. Grabbing onto a nearby railing, he stuck most of his body out of the door and yelled at them to hurry and grab onto his hand. Ludwig came up from behind him and grabbed him by his waist to secure him as he leaned outside of the bus even more.

“Emma! Just come a little closer!” He stuck his hand out and did his best to reach out to her, Mogens still behind her. He turned his head around. “Gil! Slow down!”

“I can’t! They might get too close to us!” Gilbert yelled back as he tried to steady the bus. 

“Antonio, please!” Emma yelled at him as she sprinted as best she could. Her fingertips were barely touching his. They were so close. Her body was screaming for her to stop running but she couldn’t, she just couldn’t. Using up whatever energy she had left, she jumped forward and grabbed onto his hand with both of hers, effectively getting pulled into the bus. Falling onto the stairs, she breathed heavily as Ludwig closed the bus doors and locked them. She stood up quickly, her blood soaked hands staining his white sleeves as she gripped his bicep. “Wait! What about Mogens!”

“He’s too far behind! We can’t stop and risk everyone else’s life!” He yelled at her.

She yelled back, tears welling up in her eyes. “He’s my brother! We can’t just leave him here!” 

“We can’t save everyone!”

“You guys were our only hope on getting out of that school!” Her accent thickened her words, syllables slurring together as she grew more and more distressed at the thought of losing her older brother. 

As the two of them fought, Ivan got up out of his seat and then asked for Vash and Lili to get up ‘for only a moment, yes?’. Sliding out of their seats, Ivan immediately opened up the wheelchair ramp and it’s door to slide onto it and pull Mogens off the gravel and onto the bus. He fell to the ground when his feet touched the hard metal floor.

Ivan closed the ramp door again, calling the attention of Emma who had begun to cry when she assumed they would really have to leave her brother behind. Running up to him, she gave him a tight hug and thanked Ivan over and over again. He only gave one of his more sincere smiles before joining his sisters again. Emma grabbed her brother’s arm and called for help, immediately getting Tino by her side as she showed him the cut on his arm that didn’t appear to stop bleeding. Berwald joined her on her other side as they all try to fit into the small section in between two bus seats. 

Berwald called for Emma’s attention as Tino pulled out some disinfectant for Mogens’ wound. “Are ya hurt?”

She shook her head. “The only reason is because of that.” She pointed to the nail gun near Mogens’ hand. “If he wasn’t taking woodshop today, I don’t think either of us would be alive right now.” She got up and sat on the seat closest to her brother, smoothing out his hair as Tino treated him. “He protected me and hurt himself in the progress. We were downstairs and he could barely concentrate on anything when we heard a few of you talk about this bus. We had no other option to follow all of you and now here we are.”

Mogens sighed. His vision had black spots and he was fighting for consciousness, but he did his best to stay awake. “What else was I supposed to do?”

She smiled, appreciation in her eyes. “You did enou-”

Emma rattled around in her seat as did everyone else when they felt the bus hit something. 

Gilbert yelled at them and waved one of his hands as he kept his vision on the road ahead. “Sorry! I thought the gates were open! Everyone okay?”

Everyone murmured, nobody claiming any extra injuries as Gilbert continued to drive.

Mogens’ deep voice broke the silence. “So… where are we going? What’s the plan?”

Silence.

Arthur coughed awkwardly. “We… we didn’t think that far ahead.” 

“Is there any place big enough for all of us? I mean, don’t we all live in apartments?” Alfred spoke up.

Feliciano replied in kind. “Our grandpa has a pretty big house! We could probably go over there since he’s out of the country right now!” He pulled the keys out of his backpack, twirling the ring around one of his fingers.

“Alright, the plan is set. So where is it?” Gilbert asked.

“The other side of the city.” Lovino deadpanned. So much for a quick getaway.

Alfred got up and pulled out his phone, leaning against the driver’s seat as he did so. “Don’t worry, dude. I got you.” Opening up his map app, he waited for the city map to pop up. Instead something else did. “What!? No signal!?”

Matthew sighed and pulled out a physical map from a pocket behind the seat. “Sit back down, Al.” Ignoring his distressed brother, he opened up the map and stood next to Gilbert. “Alright, so where’s the place?”

It took a moment for Feliciano to hear Matthew’s quiet voice. “Oh, it’s on Chuo-Ku block 4. It’s close to the 632 highway, I think.” 

As Matthew looked over the large map, Gilbert sped through the abandoned streets. Dodging random cars and bikes that their owners left in the middle of the streets, he was worried about what could have happened while they were in their school. 

“Make a left now!” Matthew pointed to a street sign with one hand and then grabbed onto Gilbert’s headrest with the other. 

He made as sharp of a turn as possible to reach the street in time, which he found led to various others all in quick succession. Each street led to another turn Matthew would call out, a new turn he would need to make in less than a second with the speed he was going. He just couldn’t risk getting caught by anyone or anything. Looking into his mirror he could see his friends all sliding around in their seats, all of them nearly banging their heads on the windows if not the seats in front of them. He couldn’t help but laugh a bit as he continued to speed through the streets with his trusty guide beside him. 

…

“Sorry for the bumpy ride folks, but we’ll be talking a quick gas break so just hold on for a few minutes. Grab a snack if you’d like.” Gilbert spoke into the intercom with the best airline impersonation he could manage before standing up and stretching out his legs. He heard a couple of people complain. “Listen, either loot the place or stay here. I gotta go start the gas pump inside so someone needs to pump it in the meantime.”

Kiku fixed his straight bang as he walked to the doors to accompany Gilbert, his wooden katana in one hand. “I’ll stay out there.”

Gilbert nodded. “Alright, I’ll go start it up.” 

Kiku headed to the gas pump as Gilbert walked into the convenience store with precaution, surprised to find it evacuated and without any signs of danger. Eventually his brother soon followed behind in worry, then so did Feliciano and his brother, who had Antonio follow him, which lead to Francis, Arthur, Alfred, and Matthew running inside. Then Lukas’ stomach growled and so did a few others when everyone else on the bus realized that they had no food or water with them. Eventually the bus emptied itself out once nearly all of their friends went inside the store to find anything appetizing. The only one’s left were Mogens and Emma alongside Feliks and Toris who all seemed to be taking a break from the excitement of their day. 

Looking into the window, Kiku saw Gilbert give him a thumbs up from behind the cash register so he took the gas pump and inserted it into the bus. Rocking back and forth on his feet, Kiku could hear his friends laughter coming from inside the store. He smiled as he watched the sun already begin to set. He wondered if they would have enough time to make it to the house in time, but before he could worry he heard the startling sound of an engine behind him. 

Turning his head around slowly, he found a motorcycle parking itself to the closest pump near him. Two passengers were on the vehicle, neither of them he could identify until they willingly took off their helmets. He swallowed harshly. His hands grew sweaty as he grabbed his wooden sword to take a fighting stance. He could hear one of his friends call out his name, but his heart was beating too loudly for him to concentrate so well on his surroundings. Then the two men, students from his own school if their clothing signified anything, got off the bike and walked up to him. Taking a solid stance, he was ready to strike.

Then one of them spoke.

“Kiku?” The sound was muffled, but he heard his name perfectly.

They knew his name?

“Kiku! It is you!”

The two students took off their helmets in time to rush in and give him a surprising hug. Looking up to them, as he was about to push them away, his eyes widened. “Sadiq? Heracles?”

Both of them let him go, smiles on their face appearing permanent.

Sadiq spoke first, quickly and happily. “Kid! We didn’t think we’d see you again. God, imagine how we felt when we were running to my bike and remembered we saw you in the archery club. We felt so damn guilty when we thought we’d left you behind! We were gonna go back and try to find you but these bunch of kids started chasing us and we had to book it. This jerk over here,” He pointed with his thumb over to Heracles. “Kept on being as slow as ever. I didn’t think we’d even make it!”

“We’re… we’re just happy to see you safe, Kiku.” Heracles went in for another hug, and much to his own surprise, Kiku allowed him to. “We couldn’t stop feeling guilty.” He spoke slowly as if he was afraid he’d say the wrong thing.

Sadiq joined in. “I was walking around the school and I found this guy waking up from a nap. He had no idea what happened.”

“I was on the top floor and it was empty anyways. I was doing fine, Sadiq.” Heracles retorted.

“Only because I found you about to get eaten fuckin’ alive!” Sadiq argued back at him.

As the two of them argued back and forth in quick succession, they got closer and closer while Kiku remained squeezed in between them. They seemed to be paying no attention to him as they continued to argue about anything that came to mind. He struggled to leave their bear hug, even dropping his katana after losing his grip on it. Looking away from them he could see into the store and found a few of his friends laughing at his situation. Giving them a blank expression, he began to slowly leave their tight grip to take care of the bus.

While they continued to fight, almost becoming physical at a few short handed insults, Kiku removed the pump from the bus and once he’d securely placed it in it’s port he cleared his throat. Drawing their attention away from each other Heracles removed his grip from Sadiq’s shirt and Sadiq drew one of his fists back. Coughing awkwardly they started to clean themselves up as they unbutton their shirts and tucked them back into place. They murmured apologies to each other and then to Kiku as they stated their remorse for their actions more they received a gentle smile as a reward.

As they began to talk about their adventure to get out of the school and to miraculously find Kiku, the rest of his own friends were having a field day as they grabbed whatever they could out of the convenience store. Many of them were making round trips as they brought back drinks, food, and even various electric chargers and kits as a precaution. While most of the group was grabbing packets, boxes, and even a few coolers for the meantime, Gilbert fiddled around the with cash register. He wasn’t exactly sure if their paper and coin currency really had any value anymore but he did know that there were a lot of machines with some important things that only accepted cash. 

“Need help?” Eduard walked up to the cash register.

“Mmm…” Gilbert eyed him up and down. “Nah, I think I got this.”

Without any words, he leaned over and tapped a few buttons before effectively unlocking the machine and letting the drawer slide open. 

Walking away, he grabbed a few things and walked towards the bus with a smirk on his face. “No ‘thanks’ are necessary.”

…

Once everyone found themselves on the bus, and after Leon and Yao explained their plan to Sadiq and Heracles, they started up their motorcycle while Gilbert drove the bus. Driving through the various streets and roads, things appeared either busted down or in pristine condition; as if there had never been some type of outbreak or danger. The closer they drove to the twin’s grandparent’s home, the more eccentric the houses became and the safer everything appeared. Once they’d pushed the pin to open the gates for the neighborhood, they drove slowly. Everything was eerily joyous. The large houses beamed with music and chatter. People seemed to be enjoying their time as they celebrated their time alive, a few party goers even taking the time to sit outside and drink their champagne as if an apocolypse wasn’t in the making. This didn’t mean that they didn’t sneer at the beat up bus that drove their their streets, though. 

As Feliciano gave directions through the clear and clean streets, they reached the end of a cul-de-sac with a large gate right before a pavement street. Giving the pin to the gate, Alfred rushed out and back into bus, becoming antsy at the way some of the other neighbors stared at them. 

Driving up the entrance, nearly all of them felt their jaws slack as they watched the already large mansion become larger and larger as they drove up to it. From the white columns in the front door, which also was luxuriously large and detailed, to the immense windows on each and every floor, each and every detail left them all awestruck. Once Gilbert parked in front of the garage that looked like it could hold at least ten other buses Feliciano and Lovino were the first ones to leave the bus as they lead everyone to the entrance. 

Each one of the followed right behind them at a much slower pace, walking carefully as if they would break something.

Feliks whispered to Toris as he helped him walk. “Do you know what their gramps, like, even does?”

Toris could only shrug in denial as he walked up the first set of polished marble steps to the doors.

Once everyone got inside of the entry room and they locked the doors behind them, Feliciano and Lovino appeared to have gotten into their host mode and began to show everyone the way around the house. From the three floors of the home to the large kitchen and it’s large living spaces, they could only cover a section of the first floor before Tino called for their attention.

Berwald had Mogens leaning against his side as Tino carried some supplies in his hands. “Um, Lovino? Where could I finish treating Mogens?” As he motioned to his patient, everyone noticed he appeared rather pale and had difficulty standing up straight. 

“Oh, shit, sorry. Just follow me.” He lead them away from the group and instead directed them to one of the larger bathrooms on the second floor. 

Once the small group left their sight, everyone looked back at Feliciano. 

He grew flustered at the attention. “Um, just do whatever you want! You guys can go into the kitchen too if you want.” He shifted side to side on his feet as his friends started to slowly walk around, still careful as if even the floor was made out of glass.  
Walking into one of the living rooms, Francis noticed a large television on the wall. He called everyone over to find a spot on the couches or even the soft carpet floor. “Why don’t we all just relax and watch the television instead?”

Arthur, for once, agreed with him. “I think a good show on the telly could calm us down a bit. It’s been a long day after all.” 

Grabbing the controller, Francis flipped through a few settings before he could find a working channel. In pristine condition with no static, the group intently watched the screen as the volume grew louder. On the screen was a woman who seemed to be from their local news judging from her appearance who talked to the viewer.

“-elp all of us.” The scene seemed to repeat again seamlessly. "We advice for all citizens to remain inside of a safe building and await for help. It is unknown what the source of this outbreak is, nor how dangerous it may be, but we advise for everyone to stay as safe as possible. Understand that the government will help all of us." The message repeated again. It was the only thing that seemed to be playing on all of the channels.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mogens - Netherlands  
> Emma - Belgium  
> Sadiq - Turkey  
> Heracles - Greece

**Author's Note:**

> I had started writing this as a fun little thing I didn't expect to reach 9000 words with only one chapter, but surprises are always fun. If you guys want to see ships in this story please comment and give me your opinion of it! Don't worry about major deaths since theyre no fun sometimes so any deaths should be minor. I'd love to hear what you guys think about this story though!
> 
> Until next time!


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